We are pleased to announce that the call for Expressions of Interest for Round 2 of the Research Software Maintenance Fund will open on 28 January 2026. This round will accept applications for grants up to £150k and a duration of up to 12 months. We expect to fund approximately 10 projects, subject to budget requests.
We had originally planned to open applications in December 2025 but have moved this to late January 2026 to incorporate the feedback and suggested improvements from Round 1. This will allow us to introduce several key changes to strengthen the process, improve the experience for applicants and reviewers, and ensure a more equitable and more transparent approach.
What’s changing?
Expressions of Interest (EoIs) will be assessed against **a broader set of criter…
We are pleased to announce that the call for Expressions of Interest for Round 2 of the Research Software Maintenance Fund will open on 28 January 2026. This round will accept applications for grants up to £150k and a duration of up to 12 months. We expect to fund approximately 10 projects, subject to budget requests.
We had originally planned to open applications in December 2025 but have moved this to late January 2026 to incorporate the feedback and suggested improvements from Round 1. This will allow us to introduce several key changes to strengthen the process, improve the experience for applicants and reviewers, and ensure a more equitable and more transparent approach.
What’s changing?
Expressions of Interest (EoIs) will be assessed against a broader set of criteria, including the significance of the proposed software to the communities and planned activities. Full details will be provided when the call opens in January 2026.
To improve the scalability and fairness of the reviewing process, EoIs will also undergo a **distributed peer review process, **overseen by the RSMF team. By submitting an EoI, the lead applicant will agree to review a small number (up to five) of other EoIs in March 2026. This round will only accept one EoI per lead applicant. Guidance and training will be provided to support this process. We believe this approach will not only better distribute the workload but also give applicants valuable perspective on evaluation standards.
A rebuttal stage will be introduced at both the EoI and Full Application stages, allowing applicants to clarify misunderstandings or report concerns about assessments and comments before decisions are final.
Additional measures to encourage applications from AHRC domains will also be announced when the call for EoIs opens.
Timeline
We envision Round 2 to roll out from late January, with successful EoIs invited to submit full proposals in mid-April and funding decisions expected by early July 2026.
EoI stage opens: 28 January 2026
EoI stage closes: 25 February 2026
Rebuttals: 25–26 March 2026
EoI final decisions: Week of 6 April 2026
**Successful EoIs invited to submit full proposals: **mid-April 2026
**Full proposal decisions: **early July 2026
Start date for projects: No earlier than 1st October 2026
End date for projects: No later than 29th February 2028.
Precise dates for full applications will be included in the invitation to submit a full application for successful EoIs in mid-April.